Sir Francis Bacon is known as the Father of the English essay.

It was he who imported this genre from Montaigne of France and planted it into English language and literature. His personal contribution towards the enrichment and development of this from is no less significant than the pioneering act of importing it. He is also called the Father of the Modern English Prose. Besides these two very remarkable achievements, Bacon was a thoroughgoing classical scholar with an encyclopedic range of knowledge. He was an outstanding empirical scientist, an eminent jurist and influential statesman. He was a Parliamentarian and great and effective orator. But he was an enigmatic character. Despite his versatility Bacons genius was not altogether lofty and sublime. There was a streak of malice and evil which marred an otherwise brilliant and illustrious career. After reading his essays, William Blake, the post, wrote on his copy of Bacons Essays: Good advice for Satans Kingdom

And Pope made a more comprehensive comment, which incorporated Bacons enigmatic character and accomplishment, in the from of a couplet which has become almost inseparable from Bacons name: if parts allure thee think how Bacon shind The wisest, brightest meanest of mankind. Now we shall proceed to consider various elements and aspects of character and personality of this great man as revealed through his Essays. Although Bacons essays are not intimate or personal they afford sufficient authentic testimony to the real character of the author. Bacon took the form from Montaigne who declared that he (Montaigne) was the subject of his essays but Bacons essays are counsels civil and moral according to Bacon himself. Bacon writes to preach moralise, guide his readers to achieves success. Bacon writes mostly for the benefit of the princes and the aristocrats. But in guiding and moralising, in observing and commenting Bacon reveals his own personality which

was undoubtedly versatile and colorful and impressive though not endearing. Child of The Renaissance Bacon was born in 1561, in the Elizabethan Age. The period in which Bacon was born and brought up was a period of great significance. It was the period when Renaissance spirit was in full cry. If was a period of great glory and prosperity for England in all spheres of national activity, In science, literature,-trade, commerce, education, and politics signs of creative endeavor were discernible. The general morale was high. In short, the period was characterized by hope, enterprise and ambition. It was a period when idealism was giving way to realism and ultimately to materialism. The social and national scenes witnessed besides noble achievements and endeavors unscrupulous deeds of treachery, conspiracy and self-seeking. Disproportionate ambitions made people mean and caused them to stoop to the lowest depths of moral and ethical degradation. Bacon was a true and representative child of his age. He was highly education and imbued with the spirit of his age-of

achieving greatness to lead a life of power and luxury. Bacon was a thoroughgoing scholar with an encyclopedic range of knowledge. Besides this he was a man of great versatility- he was on empirical Scientist, an eminent jurist, a great Parliamentarian, an effective and distinguished orator, a very perceptive, innovative and pioneering man of letters, who made significant contributions which immortalished him. But Bacon was the true child of the Renaissance (his versatility and his accomplishments are evidence to the this fact) and so he could not remain untouched by the accompanying evils of materialism and ambition. There was an insatiable thirst for knowledge and power political and financial. This thirst turned to lust for power and prosperity. In his eagerness to achieve these, Bacon put to winds all morel and ethical considerations. He did not bother to take into consideration the propriety aspect. No considerations were sacred enough to stand in his way to realize his ends. He sacrificed friendship, morality, reputation, and everything to achieve political power and material gains. Scholarship And Wisdom

Bacon was a child of the Renaissance. He was a highly educated, scholarly and widely travelled and experienced man. All these ingredients made Bacon an accomplished man of great practical wisdom. He was a classical scholar steeped in history, mythology, religion and science. He had taken all knowledge to be his province. His essays are full of references and allusions to great religious, social and historical events. He takes recourse to the vast storehouse of knowledge to elucidate, illustrate or consolidate his argument and drive his point home. Besides his scholarship and wisdom Bacon has a very thorough and deep knowledge of human nature and affairs. He has keen insight into human character, He understands human psychology and this helps him in reaching the core of any problem. Bacon gives the benefit of his vast knowledge and experience to all his readers. It is true that he is mostly preoccupied with the interests of kings and aristocrats but his readers gain vastly from his observations and advice contained in his Essays.

Ignoble Instinct in Bacon Bacon emerges as a versatile genius in his Essays. He is scholarly, wise, experienced and practical to the core of his heart. There is great nobility in his Essays which naturally does him great credit and which has immortalized Bacon. But alongside there is a disturbing element which has eclipsed his greatness and provoked Pope, Blake and many others to fulminate against him. Bacon has not hesitated to give advice which go against the accepted ethics and morality. To Bacon nothing seems sacred if it hinders the pursuit of greatness or personal advancement. Any number of instinct can be enumerated to prove this. There is this Machiavellian instinct in him which has made him very unpopular. He advocates immoral conduct for selfish gains-a power to feign if there be no remedy (Simulation and Dissimulation). As has already been pointed out that Bacon was the child of his age, and he, therefore, imbibed the virtues and vices of his period. If we are objective and honest, we may have to admit that Bacon was true to himself and his age. The traits of personal character revealed in his essays are neither all

complimentary nor such as may endear him to his readers but he did hold a mirror to the society of his time. Torn between morality and struggle for realization of his ambition, a representative man of action in that age could not afford to remain moral and idealistic. In an atmosphere charged with malice and conspiracy and possessed with a consuming passion for power and material prosperity a person had to be unscrupulous and at times downright ignoble and debased. Bacon did not make any effort to conceal such ignobility. He wrote mainly and mostly for the princes and the aristocrats and to them such a

Machiavellian conduct was not uncommon; nay, it was essential for existence. But in any age or atmosphere such gross immorality of accepting bribe (as a judge), and betraying his own patron for material advancement is unpardonable and Bacon justly pays the penalty of carrying eternally the stigma of which Popes couplet and Blakes comments are just two examples.